GSPP : hygiene in seed production and plant raising to prevent infection with pathogens.

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Good Seed and Plant Practices (GSPP) is an international, transparent business chain system. The purpose of Good Seed and Plant Practices (GSPP) is to prevent tomato seed and plant lots from being infected by Clavibacter michiganensis subsp. michiganensis (Cmm).

GSPP ensures that the production site's quality management system, work methods and information supply comply with the GSPP standard. Companies and their production sites are checked periodically. Verification by audit organizations ensures availability of healthy seeds and plants as well as reliable quality information per production site, per entity or per lot/batch.

Principles of the system:

isolation of the seed and seedling production location from the environment

constant monitoring during the growing season of both seeds and young plants

check before delivery: all seed lots must be tested by seed tests approved by GSPP

independent audits

The GSPP standard is based on the state of the art knowledge and will be evaluated yearly. Experts from the industry and research institutes are consulted to assure that the GSPP standard is up to date.

*)The four risk factors:

Water

Management of a production site must assure that the water is free of Cmm. If needed, the water is disinfected.

People

Where ever there is a risk of contamination of products by personnel, visitors or technicians, people have to change clothes or wear protective clothing before entering the production area. Everybody must wash his or her hands with disinfection soap before entering the production area.

Propagation material

All propagation material has to be produced by the GSPP standard. If the material is not GSPP accredited, the production area needs to be separated by hygienic measures from other parts of the site where GSPP accredited material is growing.

Materials

The risk of carrying in harmful organisms needs to be assessed by risk analysis. Depending on that analysis, materials (like machines, trays, potting soil etc) can be classified as safe or not safe. If materials are not safe, they have to be disinfected before entering the production area.

Procedures

A GSPP accredited seed or seedling production unit has to comply with the GSPP standard and has to implement management, prevention and control measures focusing on the above mentioned risk factors. If, despite all efforts, Cmm occurs, a special procedure is followed to assure that this will be adequately investigated to find the root cause of the problem. If needed, the GSPP standard will be adapted to prevent reoccurrence.

GSPP accredited sites or companies are granted the right to market their tomato seed and young plants with the GSPP logo. The first GSPP seed and plants have been available since July 2011 in the Netherlands and France.